There’s a place for us, a time a place for us

There’s a place for those of us who enjoyed our childhoods and who sometimes wish we could take kids back to that innocent time.

There’s also a place where those who battled through a challenging childhood can make fresh, happy memories.

You can spend time together with time to spare at Bay Beach, the cutest little amusement park in all the land.

The admission price hasn’t changed in more than 100 years, and ride tickets still cost just 25 cents.

Bay Beach looks, smells and sounds almost exactly the same as it did when my mom and dad used to take me there, in the early summer evenings during the late 1960s.

I know because I just spent a busy morning at Bay Beach with a little group of fun-lovers. Though 84 years separated the oldest from the youngest, we all had a glorious time.

We zipped around that park like a bunch of water bugs — a purple car here, a green boat there, the choo choo train! Twice!

All that excitement melted away the generations among us, so the little girl whooping and waving from the swooping toy plane last Monday might have been any one of us from years, even decades before. That’s the magic of places like Bay Beach.

Our world spins quickly and it behooves us all to keep pace.

But, it’s also so gratifying to hit pause once in a while, and to hop on a carousel that makes and celebrates such happy memories.